SPA 2007 is still a while away yet but the programme is now being put together.
The call for session proposals closed on 11th September and the submitted proposals are now being reviewed. This review process involves several independent reviewers assessing the proposal to see how likely it is that it will be successful and of interest to SPA participants. A standard form is used to assist in generating reviews.
Having multiple reviewers, many of whom have successfully led past SPA sessions, should improve the chances of a session being assessed appropriately. This raw review data is then used by a smaller panel of reviewers to create a session ranking.
This year I’d volunteered to help with the review process for the first time and so spent a few hours last week reviewing my assigned proposals. On the whole I was pretty impressed with what I’d read, although some proposals needed work. I also found the review process itself a useful insight into how I can improve my own proposals in future years.
Once the review process is complete all session proposers are informed of whether they have been accepted or rejected. The nice thing about SPA though is that they are given the review forms for their session and so can see how their proposal was received, what the reviewers liked or disliked about it etc. and so are in a better position to prepare proposals for future years. In the case of an accepted proposal these review results can also be used as the starting point for any corrective action that is needed in advance of the conference.
I always make a point of asking for feedback on any conference sessions I propose to other conference organisers. However, I rarely get any, in fact, some conferences don’t even bother to tell you that you’ve been rejected! Very rude.
